Monday, September 19, 2011

Killer Apps - and the decline of the west?

Imagine Niall Ferguson doing an impression of countryman Sean Connery. Well, watch the TED video below and you will see that and so much more. Ferguson presents the 6 killer apps that allowed the West to diverge from the rest. They are:
1. Competition
2. The Scientific Revolution
3. Property Rights
4. Modern Medicine
5. The Consumer Society
6. The Work Ethic
Ferguson thinks the Great Divergence is over, but does that mean the decline of the West?
The video is 20 minutes, but really worth your time.
Thanks to Matt Bufton.

Guest Essay by Kip Hansen I get emails — lots of emails in lots of
different email accounts. Many of these emails are fundraising emails —
requests for fi...

Republic of Canada

The short-lived Republic of Canada is a little-known chapter in Canadian history. From 1837 to 1838 William Lyon Mackenzie and a small group of supporters occupied Navy Island in the Niagara River. The rebels were agitating for a government that was both responsible and representative. Although their struggle was not successful, eventually these ideals came to be represented in the government of Upper Canada and, later, the country of Canada we now know. Liberty was such an important value to this little group that they put the word on the flag, making this short, but important, episode of Canadian history something worth remembering.